Phishing Scam Targets Jefferson County DA’s Office

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GOLDEN, Colo. (CBS4)- A phishing scam is taking a unique approach to scamming victims, they’re targeting employees at the Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office.

The scammers are also targeting employees of the Colorado School of Mines and the City of Golden employees.

The Jeffco District Attorney himself, Pete Weir, got a phone call.

“I expect there are three to four calls that came in on my office phone right here,” said Weir, “and when I received them it became pretty clear to me fairly quickly that there was something wrong with this call.”

Here’s how it works: the scammers call and the potential victim hears an automated message indicating that their debit account has a problem.

“So they’re asking the consumer, the recipient of the phone call to give personal identifying information, account numbers and PIN numbers,” said Weir.

Many of those targeted are employees of Jefferson County and employees at the nearby Colorado School of Mines in Golden.

The best thing consumers can do, according to Weir, “Hang up. They should just hang up the phone, never, ever give personal identifying information to anyone over the phone.”

Dozens have been targeted so far and if the scammers do get the information they want, there is little law enforcement can do.

“These types of scams are very, very difficult to investigate and they’re very difficult to prosecute but if in fact somebody falls for it, it can be devastating to the consumer,” said Weir.

If you are targeted in the scam, contact your local police department.